New Balance Foundation

New Balance Foundation

The New Balance Foundation was created in 1981 by New Balance Chairman Jim Davis and Vice Chairman Anne Davis, the couple who built the privately held athletic footwear and apparel company. The foundation operates as a separate philanthropic vehicle, funding community-rooted organizations that run sports-based and educational initiatives. Its programmatic focus sits squarely on preventing childhood obesity and expanding equitable access to physical activity. The foundation’s grantmaking model functions entirely through charitable distributions, without direct investments, fund commitments, or co-investment vehicles. Grant recipients are community-led organizations and schools that deliver structured physical-activity and nutrition-education programs. The foundation runs a signature grant program and selects partners through an application process. Geographic emphasis covers the United States, with a concentration in New England communities near New Balance’s Boston headquarters and manufacturing footprint in Maine and New Hampshire, alongside a limited number of international grants. Governance rests with the Davis family. Anne Davis serves as Managing Trustee; her husband Jim, their son Chris — New Balance’s Global Brand President — and their daughter Kassia hold trustee roles. The foundation shares a Boston address with New Balance’s Guest Street world headquarters, and the family’s associated physical assets include the mixed-use Boston Landing development and manufacturing facilities in Skowhegan, Maine, and Londonderry, New Hampshire. Public disclosures do not report foundation assets under management, total grantmaking volume, or staffing levels. The foundation’s architecture separates it from the operating company, yet it remains governed exclusively by the family that controls New Balance. This structure positions the foundation as the family’s primary vehicle for community grantmaking, distinct from any corporate social-responsibility function run by New Balance Athletics itself. The foundation does not maintain a standalone website; information lives on the New Balance corporate domain.